Parties to the Left of Labour and Corbynism by J.Healy of Left Unity

Parties to the Left
of Labour and Corbynism

by J.Healy of Left Unity (the views expressed here are those of the author not Green Left)

I am assuming for the
purpose of this piece that the Green Party can be classified as a party to the
Left of Labour, but clearly there is room for debate around this. For ten years
I was a member of the party and was one of the founder members of Green Left a
group which tried to push the party in a left direction away from “lifestyle
politics” and towards active anti capitalism. This effort succeeded to some
extent but there was always resistance from some sections of the party and also
from the leadership. The main bone of contention in 2011 with the introduction
of austerity and the cuts by the Coalition government was whether Greens would
implement those cuts in local government or refuse and join a Left coalition
against them. This caused a massive debate at the 2011 Green Party conference
and a few months later the Greens gained control of Brighton and started
implementing cuts. At this point myself and a number of other Left Greens left
the party.

But all of this was in
the context of a Labour Party that was still very much Blair and Brown’s New
Labour. The Greens provided a space to the Left of Labour for the last 20
years. They were closely involved in the anti-war movement, the campaign for a
written constitution and PR, supported Scottish independence before anyone else
in England as well as their core agenda of saving the planet, opposing nuclear
power and fracking etc. They tried desperately to build links with the trade
unions through organisations such as the Trade Union Campaign Against Climate
Change. and their biggest scalp was when a former President of the RMT joined
their ranks. They also benefited from the move of Labour to the Right by
capturing the imagination of the young, especially after the betrayal of the
Lib Dems in the Coalition government after 2010. They experienced the Green
Surge when a boom in membership occurred, many of them former Lib Dem and
Labour members.

The arrival of Corbyn
and the huge increase in the membership of the Labour Party has left them
becalmed. In the 2017 election their national vote collapsed. They had entered
a Progressive Alliance with Labour and stood down in 30 seats for Labour
candidates but Labour did not reciprocate. This has now led to a move by many
embittered councillors and others to end any policy of progressive alliance on
the basis that it damaged the Green vote. But it was not the Progressive
Alliance but the arrival of Corbynism which did this. With the loss of their 3
MEPs in 2019 and probably loss of all their council seats in London next year,
the Greens are struggling both politically and financially. They are also
witnessing a similar development as Left Unity with the leaching of many
members to Labour. The most prominent defection so far has been Josiah
Mortimer, a prominent Left Green who has been working for the Electoral Reform
Society and is now an editor of Left Foot Forward. Mortimer has just written an
article on Labour List

on why he resigned. He
describes the Greens as becoming the Brighton party and having the prospect of
only having one MP in the near future. Others have called on the Greens to
disband and form a sort of Momentum environmental movement in the Labour Party.
One can immediately see the parallels with the situation which Left Unity has
faced. Both are under pressure to shut up shop and join the great Corbynista movement.
Some Left Greens now think that at the party conference in Harrogate in October
the Greens will turn right and back to their core environmental and lifestyle
politics, realising that there are no more votes to harvest on the Left and
that their only hope is to gain disilussioned Tory and Lib Dem Remain voters.
It is noticeable that Caroline Lucas and the Greens have been much more vocal
in opposing Brexit and supporting Free Movement than Labour.

Other Left Greens are
looking at a realignment of Left politics in Britain outside the Labour Party
and working more closely with Left Unity, the AGS etc. The question is, is that
possible in the now barren landscape on the Left outside Labour? These are the
sort of issues which Left Unity needs to be discussing with other movements on
the Left outside of Labour as glorious isolation is not going to work for
either the Greens, Left Unity or the AGS. Maybe the time has come for a new
ecosocialist movement on the European model?

The next Green Left Meetings

Saturday 19 January 2019: London

GP Conference: Date / location tba

Saturday 13 April 2019: Manchester

Saturday 8 June 2019: Brighton

AGM Saturday 20 July 2019; London

Ecosocialist Network

Individuals from a variety of Green and/or Left political organisations and traditions in the UK are now engaged in launching an Ecosocialist Network, intended to include Ecosocialsts, from various political parties or none.
Green Left, a left tendency within the Green Party of England and Wales decided to support this step in a recent poll of its members and some initial responses suggest that others also share the perception that there is a political opening for Ecosocialists to get organised, and indeed an urgent need to make this happen.
We are holding an organising meeting on 4 February in London. If you are interested in attending this meeting and/or joining a ESNet mailing list, please contact: yrrumuk@googlemail.com

GL BLOGPOLICY

This Blog aims to provide a discussion forum for and about Green Left. Postings to it may be text or graphics, they do not have to be absolutely in accord with the views of Green Left, nor, since one of Green Left's current aims is to change the policies of the Green Party of England and Wales do they have to be in accord with the policies of GPEW.

Postings can be sent to yrrumuk@googlemail.com .The Committee of Green Left reserves the right to refuse any posting.